For the police officer, the man’s body language was the giveaway. His combative stance and his abrupt hand movement hinted at the possibility of danger.A Tennessee man is accused of stealing almost $20,000 from a Kosciusko County woman in her late 70s.
County sheriff's department detectives returned Wednesday from Tennessee after arresting Brian Eric Schendel, 37, of Oak Ridge, on a preliminary charge of felony exploitation of an endangered adult older than 60, according to a statement issued Thursday.
It said Schendel sold a car to the 79-year-old Mentone woman last August and then told her he had been in the military, was injured and needed money.
Playing on the victim's kindness, the sheriff's department said, Schendel coerced the woman into sending him cash and money orders during the last year to locations in Mississippi and Tennessee.
He was being held Thursday in the Kosciusko County Jail on $5,000 bond.
